Integrated circuits are widely used in many electronic devices. A typical relatively complicated integrated circuit may include hundreds of thousands or millions of transistors on a substrate. One type of transistor commonly used in an integrated circuit is the metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor ("MOSFET"). A MOSFET includes source and drain regions connected by a channel. A gate overlies the channel and is separated therefrom by an insulating layer, such as typically provided by silicon dioxide (SiO.sub.2). A control voltage applied to the gate controls the flow of charge carriers through the channel between the source and drain.
A depletion-mode MOSFET includes a doped or conducting channel under the gate when no voltage is applied to the gate. An enhancement-mode MOSFET, in contrast, requires that a gate-to-source bias voltage be applied to create an inversion layer to serve as a conducting channel. This voltage is the threshold voltage Vt. For an n-channel enhancement-mode MOSFET a positive voltage between the gate and source induces the channel. Thus, the current will only flow when the gate-to-source voltage exceeds the threshold voltage Vt. Similarly, for a p-channel enhancement-mode MOSFET, current flows when the gate-to-source voltage is negative below the negative threshold voltage.
The threshold voltage of an enhancement-mode MOSFET is determined by a number of factors, including the channel length, channel width, doping, gate oxide thickness, and back-gate biasing. Extrinsic factors, such as the ambient temperature, also affect the threshold voltage. If the Vt value is too low for a desired supply voltage, the transistor may have unacceptable leakage current if the supply voltage is greater than the desired supply voltage. Conversely, if the Vt is chosen relatively high, then there is a reduced likelihood that the transistor will fully switch on. Although modern semiconductor manufacturing processes can be controlled, there is still a spread of Vt values across integrated circuit dies within production runs.
It may also be desirable to use lower supply voltages for MOSFET integrated circuits to thereby reduce power consumption, such as for a cellular phone or a pager powered by a rechargeable battery, for example. Since the spread of threshold voltages based upon process variations is about the same irrespective of the supply voltage, Vt becomes a larger percentage as the supply voltage is reduced. As the supply voltage is reduced, control over Vt and the spread thereof for the transistors becomes more critical. When the supply voltages are reduced to about 1 volt or below, without accurate control of Vt, fewer and fewer integrated circuits may be acceptable as manufacturing yields decrease. Analog circuits, for example, can be particularly susceptible to variations in Vt.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,114 to Green, for example, describes regulation of Vt for a plurality of MOSFETs on a common substrate which is achieved by adjusting the back bias on the substrate using a charge pump that is selectively operated when the Vt of a designated enhancement-mode FET falls below a reference voltage. A voltage divider provides the reference voltage that is applied to the gate of the designated enhancement-mode MOSFET, which when turned on enables the charge pump. The Vt of a designated enhancement-mode MOSFET is detected by applying a reference voltage to its gate. The charge pump raises the Vt of the MOSFETs on the substrate to within a predetermined range of a reference voltage. In other words, the patent discloses an example of so-called negative back gate bias, wherein the Vt of the transistors is raised. Unfortunately, raising the Vt reduces the available voltage headroom and prevents operating at lower supply voltages. Moreover, the sensing and charge pump circuit components include MOSFETs which have Vt's, that is, the variable to be controlled. In addition, a high effective threshold voltage may result in damage to relatively thin gate oxide layers of the MOSFETs.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,397,934 to Merrill et al. also describes a compensation circuit for the threshold voltages of a plurality of MOSFETS on an integrated circuit die. In particular, a portion of the circuit generates a reference voltage. Threshold voltage monitoring circuitry includes a MOSFET transistor and a resistor connected in series therewith to generate a second voltage signal. Feedback circuitry compares the reference voltage to the second voltage signal and adjusts the effective threshold voltage of the MOS transistor so that the reference voltage is substantially equal to the second voltage signal. As described above, the compensation circuitry includes devices which are themselves subject to the variation in threshold voltage.